Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Effect of welding heat input on microstructures and toughness in simulated

CGHAZ of VN high strength steel
Jun Hu a,n, Lin-Xiu Du a, Jian-Jun Wang b, Cai-Ru Gao a
a
b

The State Key Laboratory of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Institute of Materials Research, School of Material and Metallurgy, Northeastern university, Shenyang 110819, China

ar t ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 23 December 2012
Received in revised form
9 April 2013
Accepted 11 April 2013
Available online 19 April 2013

For the purpose of obtaining the appropriate heat input in the simulated weld CGHAZ of the hot-rolled
VN microalloyed high strength S-lean steel, the microstructural evolution, hardness, and toughness
subjected to four different heat inputs were investigated. The results indicate that the hardness decreases
with increase in the heat input, while the toughness rst increases and then decreases. Moderate heat
input is optimum, and the microstructure is ne polygonal ferrite, granular bainite, and acicular ferrite
with dispersive nano-scale V(C,N) precipitates. The hardness is well-matched with that of the base metal.
Moreover, the occurrence of energy dissipating micromechanisms (ductile dimples, tear ridges)
contributes to the maximum total impact energy. The detrimental effect of the free N atoms on the
toughness can be partly remedied by optimizing the microstructural type, fraction, morphologies, and
crystallographic characteristics. The potency of V(C,N) precipitates on intragranular ferrite nucleation
without MnS assistance under different heat inputs was discussed.
& 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Simulated weld CGHAZ
Heat input
Misorientation grain boundary
Toughness
VN microalloyed steel

1. Introduction
Both strength and toughness are important mechanical properties for heavy steel products used for structural applications. Grain
renement is the only mechanism that improves strength and
toughness simultaneously. It is well documented that a high level
of grain renement can be achieved in microalloyed steels by
proper thermo-mechanical treatment. But ferrite grain renement
in heavy plates and forging steel cannot easily be achieved because
the deformation and accelerated cooling can hardly spread equally
over the whole thickness, resulting in large deformation and
temperature gradients, thereby generating inhomogeneous microstructures through the thickness, leading to inhomogeneous
properties [1,2]. It has been over one hundred years since the V
element was rst added into the steel by Professor Arnold.
Nowadays, the V microalloyed steels have been widely developed
and utilized for structural applications such as buildings, bridges,
offshore platforms, and automobile components, etc. The V element coupled with N is proposed to be more effective due to the
stimulated precipitation behavior and enhanced grain renement.
The addition of N into the V microalloyed steel shortens the
precipitation incubation period of the V carbonitrides and
increases the volume fraction because of the increased solubility
product of V and N. The unique role of VN is acceleration of the
intragranular ferrite nucleation [35]. Shim [6] carried out

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 24 83680250; fax: +86 24 23906472.

E-mail address: hujunral@163.com (J. Hu).

0921-5093/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2013.04.044

systematic study of non-metallic particles nucleation potency on

intragranular ferrite, and concluded that the TiN and MnS are inert
to the nucleation of intragranular ferrite, while VN is potent. The
lattice mismatch of VN with ferrite (1.3%) is smaller than in the
case of TiN (3.8%), and the most important factor in nucleation
kinetics of intragranular ferrite is the formation of the coherent
and low energy interface [7]. In the VN steel containing high S
(500 ppm), VN cap forms on the MnS core, and the MnS+VN
complex inclusions are preferential sites for the intragranular
ferrite nucleation [8,9]. In the VN steel with medium S
(50 ppm), He and Edmonds [10] suggested that vanadium segregates to austenite grain interiors and forms vanadium-rich regions
or FeV clusters that could be energetically favorable sites for
intragranular nucleation. Recently, in the VN lean S (10 ppm)
steel, Capdevila [11,12] demonstrated that the acicular ferrite is
nucleated on VN precipitates without the assistance of MnS
inclusions. Moreover, the strength and toughness are much
improved by VN microalloying. Therefore the application of
VN microalloying technology is an effective way of enhancing
both strength and toughness in the steel with coarse prior
austenite grain size (PAGS).
The balance of high strength and good toughness in HSLA steels
can be upset by the thermal cycles experienced during welding,
producing poor toughness in the heat affected zone (HAZ) [13,14].
It is well known that there is a profound relationship between
PAGS and phase-transformation during austenite decomposition
in steels. The lowest toughness is expected in the coarse grained
heat affected zone (CGHAZ). Compared to the intercritical HAZ and
ne grained HAZ, CGHAZ is the part of the HAZ immediately

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J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

adjacent to the weld fusion line. The CGHAZ experiences high peak
temperature, which leads to extensive austenitic grain coarsening,
so that on cooling, ferrite nucleation is suppressed and there are
high proportions of brittle ferrite side-plates and upper bainite
form, thus producing areas of poor toughness known as local
brittle zone (LBZ). However, the coarser the PAGS, the more
intragranular the microalloy carbonitrides precipitation events.
Moreover the intragranular ferrite nucleation can be stimulated
because an increase in the PAGS leads to a reduction in the
number of nucleation sites at the austenite grain boundaries
[15]. Therefore, the control of V(C,N) precipitates enables enhancement of the intragranular ferrite nucleation in the CGHAZ and
improve the toughness, while systematic investigation has not
been conducted.
The most important thermal cycle parameter for a xed peak
temperature (taken as 1350 1C for CGHAZ) is the cooling rate. The
cooling rate is usually specied as the time taken to cool from
800 1C to 500 1C (t8/5) and can be related to welding heat input
[13,14]. It is well established that the cooling rate has large
inuence on the microstructures and mechanical properties of
the HSLA steel [16,17]; therefore it is meaningful to study the
hardness and toughness evolution in the simulated weld CGHAZ
subjected to varied heat input, especially the HSLA steel with high
N content [18,19]. However, the correlation among welding
thermal cycles, the resulting microstructural evolution, and the
fracture toughness properties has not been evidenced in the VN
S-lean microalloyed steel. The potency of VN precipitates on the
intragranular ferrite nucleation in the welding thermal cycles still
needs better understanding.
The purpose of the present work is to investigate the effect of
heat input on the microstructures, hardness, and toughness in the
simulated welding CGHAZ of VN high strength steel. The VN
precipitation behavior was characterized by TEM, and the crystallography was analyzed by EBSD. Moreover, the fracture micromechanisms were systematically investigated by observing the Charpy
impact fracture surface combined with microcrack propagation
path. The relationship among the weld heat input, microstructural
evolution, precipitation behavior, strengthening mechanism, and
fracture toughness properties was claried.

2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The VN microalloyed steel in the form of a 13 mm thick plate
was chosen for the study. The chemical composition and the
mechanical properties of as-rolled steel are shown in Table 1.
The equivalent carbon content (Ceq) and the welding crack
susceptibility index (Pcm) are 0.44 and 0.22, respectively, calculated using the following equations [20,21]:
C eq C

Mn Si Ni Cu Cr Mo V

6
15
5

P cm C

Si Mn Cu Cr Ni Mo
V

5B
30
20
60 15 10

2.2. Weld simulation procedure

The welding thermal cycle simulation was conducted on a
thermo-mechanical simulator to study the microstructural evolution and impact toughness variation in the CGHAZ. The simulated
specimens were cut from the middle of as-rolled steel plate along
the transverse direction and then machined into the dimensions of
11 mm  11 mm  55 mm. The welding thermal cycle curves were
determined by the 2 dimensional Rykalin mathematical model to
simulate the welding process of plates with 13 mm thickness. The
specimens were heated to 1350 1C at 100 1C/s, and then held for
1 s. The t8/5 was chosen as 10 s, 20 s, 60 s, and 120 s, to simulate
different welding heating inputs (E), and the welding inputs were
equivalent to that in-service welding of 17.5 kJ/cm, 24.8 kJ/cm,
42.9 kJ/cm, and 60.7 kJ/cm respectively. The correlation between
the heat inputs used and the t8/5 values is exhibited as Eq. (3) [22].
Each condition was conducted ve times. The temperature was
controlled with a type-K thermocouple wire percussion welded at
the midsection, and the nishing temperature was 350 1C. For the
purpose of observing the nucleation sites of the acicular ferrite in
simulated CGHAZ, a specimen was treated following the welding
thermal cycle curve of t8/5 20 s till 580 1C and then quickly waterquenched to room temperature, where the acicular ferrite just
nucleates and cannot fully grow up.
s
4lct 8=5
3
Ed
1=500T 0 2 1=800T 0 2
where lthermal conductivity was chosen as 0.5 W/(cm 1C),
-density was chosen as 7.8 g/cm3, c-specic heat capacity chosen
1 J/(g 1C), T0-pre-heating temperature was chosen as 20 1C, and
d-steel thickness was chosen as 1.3 cm.
2.3. Mechanical properties testing
The specimens subjected to welding thermal cycle were
machined into standard Charpy V-notch samples with the dimensions of 10 mm  10 mm  55 mm. The impact tests were conducted at 20 1C on an Instron Dynatup 9200 series instrumented
drop weight impact tester using standard Charpy V-notch impact
test (ASTM E23) [23]. The total impact absorbed energy can be
separated into crack initiation energy and crack propagation
energy based on the maximum impact load data [24,25]. Moreover, 5 1C was added before the testing process in order to make
up for the temperature rise of the ambient environment. The
impact tests were conducted ve times at each parameter, and the
total impact energy was the calculated average value. The Vickers
microhardness was measured utilizing an FM700 hardness-testing
machine employing a load of 500 g, and the average value of 10
points was adopted at each circumstance.
2.4. Microstructural characterization
Metallographic specimens were cut near the monitoring thermocouple and then polished and etched with 4% nital before being
investigated by a Leica DMIRM optical microscope (OM) and FEI
Quanta 600 scanning electron microscope (SEM). The average
PAGS measurements were made on micrographs and calculated

Table 1
Chemical composition and mechanical properties of as-rolled experimental steel.
Chemical compositions, (wt%)

Mechanical properties

Si

Mn

Al

Ceq

Pcm

Rp0.2 (MPa)

Rm (MPa)

A (%)

Toughness at 20 1C (J)

0.12

0.2

1.6

0.002

0.03

0.1

0.018

0.44

0.22

595

705

20

118

J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

by using a linear intercept technique involving at least 50 intercepts. For the purpose of studying the grain boundary misorientation, the samples were electrolytically polished in a solution of
perchloric acid in ethyl alcohol for the observations via electron
backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system. The microcracks analyses
of impact tests were conducted through making a notch near the
fracture surface. Carbon extraction replica technique was conducted on FEI Tecnai G2 F20 transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV, and the composition of
the precipitates was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDX).

3. Results
3.1. Effect of heat input on microstructures
Fig. 1 shows the OM micrographs of the simulated CGHAZ
specimens for different t8/5. As the t8/5 10 s, the microstructure is
composed of lath martensite, lath bainite, and a small amount of
primary widmanstatten. The bainite sheaf and primary widmanstatten nucleate and grow from prior austenite grain boundaries
[26]. The size of the bainitic packets is larger than 30 m, and
some packets in the different prior austenite grains are interconnected, as shown in Fig. 1a. At t8/5 20 s, the microstructure is
predominantly ne grained granular bainite, acicular ferrite, and
polygonal ferrite\allotriomorphic ferrite. The grain size of ferrite is
35 m, and the packets of the granular bainite are 10 m. The
intragranularly nucleated acicular ferrite segments the large prior
austenite grain, as shown in Fig. 1b. At the t8/5 60 s, as the ferrite
rst forms along the prior austenite grain boundaries, the untransformed austenite will be gradually enriched with C, and the
degenerated pearlite thin lm forms due to local C concentration,
and then the acicular ferrite generates inside of the prior austenite

163

grain. The grain size of ferrite is 810 m. The ne and discontinuous cementite distributes along the degenerated pearlite thin
lm, as shown in Fig. 1c. On increasing the t8/5 to 120 s, the grain
size of ferrite is further coarsened to 1020 m. The coarse
pearlite forms during the slow cooling process due to the high C
content, and the size of the pearlite colonies is 510 m, as shown
in Fig. 1d.
The PAGS is 40.35 m, 41.66 m, 43.56 m, and 44.95 m,
respectively, subjected to t8/5 10 s, 20 s, 60 s, and 120 s. The PAGS
predominately depends on the reheated temperature. The extensive austenitic coarsening process occurs when the ne microalloyed precipitates are fully dissolved [27]. The austenite is also
gradually coarsened during the subsequent cooling process at high
temperature; thus the PAGS enlarges slightly with increase in the
heat input.
Fig. 2 shows the orientation image maps, image quality maps
with grain boundary misorientation distribution, and corresponding misorientation angle distribution histograms of the simulated
CGHAZ specimens subjected to different t8/5. At t8/5 10 s, the lath
martensite is divided into many packets, and each packet consists
of several blocks. This statement can be supported by the crystallographic orientation relationship analysis proposed by Kitahara
[28], Morito [29], and Lan [30]. But the coarse lath bainite mainly
contains only one variation, as also observed in the work of
LambertPerlade [31]. The grain boundaries include low angle
boundaries, high angle boundaries, and singular boundaries, such
as 3 coherent boundaries [32]. In the image quality maps, the red
lines represent the low misorientation boundaries of 2151 and
the blue lines stand for the high misorientation boundaries of 151
and beyond. The 3 coherent boundaries are in yellow. The high
misorientation grain/packet boundaries can efciently deect or
even arrest the propagation of cleavage microcracks, while the low
misorientation boundaries are unable to lead to a noticeable
deviation of the cleavage cracks [28,31,3335]. There is a high

Martensite

Granular bainite
Acicular ferrite

Bainite with parallel laths

Primary widmanstatten

Polygonal ferrite

20m

20m

Degenerated pearlite film

Acicular ferrite

Pearlite

20m

20m

Fig. 1. OM micrographs of simulated CGHAZ specimens for different t8/5: (a) t8/5 10 s; (b) t8/5 20 s; (c) t8/5 60 s; and (d) t8/5 120 s.

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J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

B packets with single variation

M packets with diverse variation

20m

20m

20m

20m

Fig. 2. Crystallographic characteristics of simulated CGHAZ specimens for different t8/5 analyzed by EBSD: (a) and (b) orientation image maps; (c) and (d) image quality maps
with grain boundary misorientation distribution; (e) and (f) misorientation angle distribution histograms; (a), (c), and (e) t8/5 10 s; (b), (d), and (f) t8/5 20 s. (For interpretation
of the references to color in this gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

fraction of high angle grain boundaries in the lath martensite, but

only a small amount of low angle grain boundaries exists in the
coarse lath bainite. At t8/5 20 s, the boundary of ne grained
polygonal ferrite shows high misorientation. The acicular ferrite
comprises interlocking structure of nonparallel laths, which can
promote a sufcient subdivision of the prior austenite grain. The
misorientations of some adjacent plates are high angle, while a
few ones are low angle due to the sympathetic nucleation

mechanism, and several sub-grains inside of the acicular ferrite

might be generated by the sympathetic nucleation, polygonization, heterogeneous nucleation at the triple point (a pre-existing
ferrite crystal, precipitates, and the matrix), and the impingement
of several ferrite grains separately formed on precipitates [3638].
The fractions of low angle grain boundaries are 52.9% and 46.7%,
respectively, at t8/5 10 s and 20 s, and the fractions of 3 coherent
boundaries are 0.096% and 0.07%. As the t8/5 increases to 60 s and

J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

50nm

165

50nm

50nm

Fig. 3. TEM carbon replica analysis micrographs of precipitates and the corresponding chemical composition in simulated CGHAZ specimens for different t8/5: (a) t8/5 20 s;
(b) t8/5 60 s; and (c) t8/5 120 s.

120 s, the polygonal ferrite and acicular ferrite are both gradually
coarsened, while there is no observable variation of microstructural crystallographic characteristics.
Fig. 3 shows the TEM micrographs of precipitates and the
corresponding chemical composition in the simulated CGHAZ
specimens for different t8/5. The precipitate is unobservable at
t8/5 10 s. High fraction of 35 nm dispersive precipitates forms at
t8/5 20 s. At the t8/5 60 s, the precipitates are 2030 nm, and there
is still a small amount of ne precipitates. As the t8/5 increases to
120 s, the precipitates are still 2030 nm, and the precipitates are
determined to be V(C,N) analyzed by EDX.
The precipitation morphologies are related to the thermodynamics-supercooling and kinetics-diffusivity. The nucleation involves
localized diffusion in front of newly-formed embryos. As a result, the
critical nuclei's number is decided by supercooling, and the atom
attaching frequency, which is determined by local diffusivity, thus
generating a maximum nucleation frequency in the middle supercooling. Moreover, the precipitates volume and size are large at low
supercooling while they are small at large supercooling. The precipitation chemical composition is determined by the forming temperature.
Capdevila [12] proposed the equilibrium chemical composition of V(C,
N) by thermodynamic calculations as a function of the temperature; in
the austenite region, the V(C,N) precipitates are rich with N, and in the
ferrite region, the V(C,N) precipitates are rich with C. The V(C,N)
precipitates in austenite are the intragranular nucleation sites, and
stimulate the formation of the acicular ferrite in place of the coarse
bainite and primary widmanstatten. In general, the interstitial N atoms
are regarded to be detrimental to the toughness, which is partly xed
at t8/5 20 s and abundantly consumed at t8/5 60 s and 120 s.
Fig. 4 shows the OM micrograph of acicular ferrite nucleation sites
in simulated CGHAZ specimen following the welding thermal cycle
curve of t8/5 20 s and then water-quenching at 580 1C to room
temperature. The microstructure consists of polygonal ferrite, acicular ferrite, and martensite. The acicular ferrite plates with interwoven
morphologies nucleate intragranularly. The TEM micrographs are
shown in Fig. 5. The acicular ferrite plates are surrounded by
martensite. The magnied image of acicular ferrite plate demonstrates that there is high volume fraction of precipitates in the ferrite
matrix, as shown in Fig. 5a and b. Fig. 5c exhibits the intragranular
nucleated ferrite, and the ferrite plates grow in different directions.
The precipitates morphologies are shown in Fig. 5d.
3.2. Effect of heat input on mechanical properties
Table 2 shows the Vickers hardness as a function of t8/5 for
simulated CGHAZ specimens. The hardness is 302 HV, 245 HV,

Acicular ferrite

10m
Fig. 4. OM micrograph of acicular ferrite nucleation sites in simulated CGHAZ
specimen following the welding thermal cycle curve of t8/5 20 s and then waterquenching at 580 1C to room temperature.

231 HV, and 222 HV, respectively, subjected to t8/5 10 s, 20 s, 60 s,

and 120 s. The hardness of base metal, HAZ, and weld metal
should be well-matched, and the local stress concentration of the
welding joints could be released due to the uniform deformation
at each sub-region [39]. The high hardness of the simulated
CGHAZ is attributed to the multiple strengthening mechanisms
as follows:
1) solid solution strengthening from substitutional atoms (Mn and
Si) and interstitial atoms (C and N);
2) precipitation hardening from the V(C,N) particles.
3) dislocation strengthening;
4) effective grain boundary strengthening;
5) transformation strengthening from the martensite, bainite,
acicular ferrite, and pearlite.
At t8/5 10 s, the highest hardness is mainly attributed to the lath
martensite and lath bainite strengthening, which is undesirable due
to the large discrepancy with the base metal (240 HV), whereas at
the t8/5 60 s and 120 s, the hardness decreases because of the
enlarged polygonal ferrite size, widened acicular ferrite plates, and
coarsened V(C,N) precipitates. The suitable hardness is acquired at
t8/5 20 s, where the role of transformation strengthening from

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J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

M
M

Acicular ferrite plates

Intragranular nucleated ferrite

Fig. 5. TEM thin foil analysis micrographs of acicular ferrite nucleation sites in simulated CGHAZ specimen following the welding thermal cycle curve of t8/5 20 s and then
water-quenching at 580 1C to room temperature: (a) acicular ferrite plates; (b) precipitates in acicular ferrite plate of (a); (c) intragranular nucleated ferrite; and
(d) precipitates in ferrite of (c).

Table 2
Hardness and impact toughness at different t8/5 for simulated CGHAZ specimens.
t8/5 (s)

10

20

60

120

Hardness, (HV)
Total impact energy, (J)
Crack initiation energy, (J)

302
32.1
23.6

245
53.3
37.8

231
26.2
13.7

222
15.0
11.7

acicular ferrite and granular bainite, nano-scaled V(C,N) precipitation hardening, and effective grain boundaries strengthening make
the CGHAZ hardness equivalent to that of the base metal.
The total impact energy and crack initiation energy at different
t8/5 for simulated CGHAZ specimens are also shown in Table 2. The
impact energy is 32.1 J, 53.3 J, 26.2 J, and 15.0 J, respectively,
subjected to t8/5 10 s, 20 s, 60 s, and 120 s. And the crack initiation
energy is 23.6 J, 37.8 J, 13.7 J, and 11.7 J, correspondingly. The
optimal Charpy impact toughness is obtained at t8/5 20 s.
3.3. Effect of microstructural characteristic on toughness
Fig. 6 shows the SEM micrographs of impact fracture surface
morphologies and secondary cracks propagation paths of specimens
for different t8/5. At t8/5 10 s, the fracture surface is composed of the
large and small cleavage facets, as shown in Fig. 6a. The crack
propagates in a straight line in the lath bainite without deection
while being nally arrested at the bainite/martensite interface, as
shown in Fig. 6b. The size of the cleavage facets is related to the

crack path. The straight crack propagation path in the lath bainite
contributes to the large cleavage facets, and the deected crack
propagation path in the lath martensite is corresponding to the
small cleavage facets. The large cleavage facets demonstrate very
low crack propagation energy, while the small cleavage facets
exhibit higher crack propagation energy. At the t8/5 20 s, the
cleavage facets are very small. Moreover, there are many small
ductile dimples and tear ridges, as shown in Fig. 6c, which largely
increase the impact energy due to occurrence of energy dissipating
micromechanisms [30]. The crack blunts and the small plastic
deformation zone form when the crack propagates across the
acicular ferrite, as shown in Fig. 6d, which indicates that the acicular
ferrite acts as the crack arrester and increases the crack propagation
energy. The zigzag-shaped crack propagation path, which is because
of the microcrack being frequently deected by the high angle grain
boundaries of the polygonal ferrite, acicular ferrite, and granular
bainite packets, contributes to the small cleavage facets and ductile
dimples of the impact fracture surface. Further increasing the t8/5 to
60 s and 120 s, the fracture cleavage facets are slightly enlarged, and
the dimples gradually disappear, as shown in Fig. 6e. The microcracks propagate in a straight way inside of the coarse polygonal
ferrite, as shown in Fig. 6f. Moreover, the pearlite is the additional
crack source, thus the crack initiation energy and crack propagation
energy decrease signicantly.
4. Discussion
For the purpose of obtaining the optimal microstructures and
mechanical properties of the CGHAZ, both of the local hardness

J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

Small cleavage facets

167

Bainite
Microcrack propagating straightly

Large cleavage facets

Microcrack deflected and arrested

20m

Martensite

5m

Plastic deformation zone

Ductile fracture bands

with small dimples

20m

5m

Microcrack propagating
straightly in polygonal ferrite

20m

5m

Fig. 6. SEM micrographs showing impact fracture surface morphologies and secondary cracks propagation paths underneath the fracture surface of specimens' radical zone
for different t8/5: (a) fracture surface at t8/5 10 s; (b) propagation path at t8/5 10 s; (c) fracture surface at t8/5 20 s; (d) propagation path at t8/5 20 s; (e) fracture surface at t8/5
120 s; and (f) propagation path at t8/5 120 s.

and toughness under different welding heat inputs should be

taken into consideration, which are related to the microstructural
morphologies and crystallographic characteristics. At t8/5 10 s, the
lath martensite and lath bainite contribute to the maximum
hardness of 302 HV, thus the local stress concentration is prone
to generation due to the large hardness discrepancy compared to
the base metal of 240 HV. The coarse lath bainite contains one
variation and barely small angle grain boundaries therein; therefore, the crack propagates in a straight way and forms large
cleavage facets of the Charpy impact fracture surface, and then
resulting in the low impact energy. The large hardness discrepancy
and the insufcient impact toughness contribute to the LBZ in the
welding joints. At t8/5 20 s, the microstructure is the ne polygonal
ferrite, granular bainite, and acicular ferrite. The hardness 245 HV
is nearly equivalent to the base metal, and the welding joints
enable uniform deformation due to the gradual hardness transaction. Furthermore, the occurrence of energy dissipating micromechanisms (ductile dimples, tear ridges) contributes to the
maximum total impact energy. The suitable hardness and

improved impact toughness increase the critical stress of crack

formation. At t8/5 60 s and 120 s, the coarsened polygonal ferrite is
not only unable to inhibit the crack propagating but also decreases
the hardness. Therefore, the welding joints properties could be
aggravated.
V(C,N) layer can heterogeneously nucleate at the AlN core in
the case of low reheating temperature [15]. The absolute dissolution temperature of AlN in the experimental steel is 1301.4 1C
calculated using Eq. (4); thus few AlN particles exist at 1350 1C
peak temperature. It is well established that the kinetics of AlN
precipitation are sluggish [40]; therefore the competitive precipitation mechanism between AlN and VN is weak at the conducted
welding cooling process. Moreover, the AlN particles are unlikely
sites for intragranular ferrite nucleation because the close matching between ferritic planes and important planes in the h.c.p.
AlN lattice cannot be achieved [41].
 
6770
1:03
log Al N
T

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J. Hu et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 577 (2013) 161168

The interstitial atoms N are generally regarded as the detrimental factor to the toughness. The volume of the VN precipitates increases with the rising welding heat input; thus the
residual free N atoms decrease, whereas the optimal toughness
is obtained at moderate t8/5. Therefore, the deterioration effect
of N on the toughness is partly remedied by the optimized
microstructures.
The ne VN precipitates or even the V-rich clusters are
regarded as capable of stimulating the nucleation of the intragranular ferrite in the VN microalloyed S-lean steel [1012]. It is
well-recognized that the formation of inter and intragranularly
nucleated ferrite is competitive. At t8/5 10 s, the lath bainite and
primary widmanstatten nucleate at the prior austensite grain
boundaries. Increasing the t8/5 to 20 s, a small amount of acicular
ferrite nucleates intragranularly due to the acceleration effect of
the ne dispersive VN precipitates. For further increasing the t8/5
to 60 s or 120 s, the potency of the intragranular nucleation is
boosted due to the enlarged size of the VN precipitates [2], while a
large amount of polygonal ferrite preferentially forms along the
prior austenite grain boundaries at high temperature by diffusion
mechanism, and then the acicular ferrite generates at the lower
transformation temperature by the displasive mechanism. Therefore, in the VN microalloyed S-lean steel, the formation of the
acicular ferrite requires not only the intragranular nucleation sites
but also the assistance of suitable supercooling. Although the
subsequently transformed acicular ferrite substitutes the formation of the coarse granular bainite and improves the toughness to
some extent, the rst generated coarse intergranularly nucleated
polygonal ferrite demonstrates that the nucleation potency of the
VN precipitates without the MnS assistance is inferior to the largesized inclusions, i.e. VN+MnS and (Ti,Mn)2O3 [6,9], especially for
the large heat input.

5. Conclusions
The microstructural evolution, hardness, and toughness in the
simulated CGHAZ of high strength VN microalloyed steel subjected to different t8/5 were investigated. The major conclusions
are summarized as follows.
(1) At the low heat input, the microstructure is mainly
composed of the lath martensite and lath bainite. Inside
of the coarse lath bainite, the low angle grain boundaries
are unable to effectively deect the crack propagation
path, thus resulting in the large cleavage facets of the
impact fracture surface. Moreover, the hardness discrepancy with the base metal is very large.
(2) At the medium heat input with t8/5 20 s, the microstructure
consists of ne polygonal ferrite, granular bainite, and
acicular ferrite with high fraction of 35 nm V(C,N) precipitates. The hardness of the simulated CGHAZ and the
base metal is well-matched. Moreover, the occurrence of
energy dissipating micromechanisms (ductile dimples, tear
ridges) contributes to the maximum total impact energy.
(3) At the high heat input, the V(C,N) precipitates are 20
30 nm, whereas, the coarsened polygonal ferrite is not
only unable to inhibit the crack propagating but also
decreases the hardness. Therefore, the welding joints
properties can be aggravated.
(4) The detrimental effect of the free N atoms on toughness can
be partly remedied by optimizing microstructural type,
fraction, morphologies, and crystallographic characteristics.
(5) The ne VN precipitates stimulate the intragranularly
nucleated acicular ferrite, and the toughness is improved,

whereas the nucleation potency of the ne VN precipitates without the MnS assistance is limited under the
large heat input due to insufcient supercooling.

Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully appreciate the nancial support by the
National Key Technology Research and Development Program of
the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant no.
2011BAE13B03), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities (Grant no. N110402002), and the Natural Science
Foundation of Liaoning Province of China (Grant no. 201202062).

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